The History Press [new releases]

Read the story of the Battle of Antietam from the African American perspective.

The African American community around Sharpsburg, Maryland witnessed John Brown’s raid, wartime skirmishes, the Battle of South Mountain, and the aftermath of the bloodiest day in American history. Read stories of encounters with Abraham Lincoln and Union and Confederate generals, and of Black civilian suffering and sacrifice in the cause of freedom. Their experiences during four years of Civil War come to life in vivid detail, often in their own words.

Award-winning historian Emilie Amt recounts the personal stories of African Americans, both enslaved and free, who lived on the battlefield and who worked in the armies who clashed there.

Look into the eyes of these soldiers and see the faces of those who dared to stare into the face of Death.

The Battle of Fredericksburg, fought December 11-15, 1862, is often remembered for the seemingly futile attacks by the Army of the Potomac against dug in Confederates on Marye's Heights. Less well understood is the fighting south of the heights on what has become known as Slaughter Pen Farm. In this work the images of thirty Union soldiers are published for the first time. They give a face and history to those men who struggled across that bloody landscape, as well as to those that charged up the slope of Marye's Heights into Confederate fire.

Authors Matthew Borders and Joseph Stahl introduce you to these men, their stories and their sacrifice on the bullet swept battlefield of Fredericksburg.

Meet the black men and women who toiled from sunup to sundown to live the American dream.

The history of Dubuque is as important to the nation as it is Iowa. Look into the life of railroad-attorney Abraham Lincoln as he pays a visit to a prominent railroad engineer in Dubuque prior to becoming president. Follow congressional debate on whether U.S. Rep. William Vandever (R-IA) had the right to simultaneously hold a seat in Congress and a commission in the U.S. military during the Civil War. View some of the more popular Americans photographed by famed Dubuque photographer Samuel Root, including an image of Frederick Douglass captured while in Dubuque for one of three lectures the “Self-made Man” made in the Key City. Author and historian John T. Pregler sheds light on these rediscovered facets of American history and many others.

Take a juicy foray into the all-but-forgotten history of Chilton County, Alabama.

In 1895, Senator Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina attempted to solidify his political power. He proposed to rewrite the South Carolina Constitution to deny African Americans their constitutional rights and make racial segregation the law of the state. Six Black leaders--Robert Anderson, Isaiah Reed, Robert Smalls, William J. Whipper, James Wigg and Thomas E. Miller--went to the state capitol in the face of insult and ridicule to make an eloquent stand against these developments. The erudite and forceful addresses of these men drew worldwide headlines but are largely forgotten today. Author Damon L. Fordham attempts to rectify that omission and inspire generations to come.

Scientists and inventors who lived, worked or were educated in the Bluegrass State have made fundamental contributions to biology, chemistry, physics and technology. Biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan laid the foundation for modern genetics. Chemist William Lipscomb made important discoveries about the structure of molecules and chemical bonding. Astrophysicist J. Richard Gott is a leading expert on cosmology, general relativity and time travel. And inventor George Devol built the world's first programmable industrial robot. Kentucky scientists have also been awarded four Nobel Prizes. Science teacher Duane S. Nickell offers a glimpse into the lives of seventeen scientific heroes from Kentucky.

What began as a simple scouting mission evolved into a full-scale battle when a regiment of Union soldiers unexpectedly encountered a detachment of Confederate cavalry.

Three months after the Civil War's first important battle at Manassas in 1861, Union and Confederate armies met again near the sleepy town of Leesburg. The Confederates pushed forward and scattered the Union line. Soldiers drowned trying to escape back to Union lines on the other side of the Potomac River. A congressional investigation of the battle had long-lasting effects on the war's political and military administration. Bill Howard narrates the history of the battle as well as its thorny aftermath.

The most pivotal defensive line in the most pivotal battle in the history of America.

The fighting at Culp's Hill during the Battle of Gettysburg was some of the fiercest during the bloody battle, and holding the hill, for the Union, was essential not only for victory in battle, but protecting the country as a whole.

Authors Matthew Borders and Joseph Stahl present intimate portraits of twenty-eight soldiers who defended Culp's Hill, including in-depth analysis of never before published images and harrowing accounts of heroism in the fight to save the Union.

"Old Atlanta'? may conjure images of Southern belles and Civil War ruination, but the full story stretches back millennia.

From centuries of Native American settlements that ended with the removal of the Creeks to the rough and ready pioneer days, the area was rich in history long before it was called Atlanta. Author Mark Pifer unfolds a rich saga, including forgotten details from the struggles of African Americans and new immigrants while noting modern locations bursting with tales that predate the City in the Forest's rise amid the treetops.

Michigan undertook a rapid and robust response to Lincoln's call to arms during the Civil War and in many of its great battles. Read the much overlooked history in this volume.

With lively narration, telling anecdotes, and vivid battlefield accounts, Michigan and the Civil War tells the story as never before of Michigan's heroic contributions to saving the Union. Beginning with Michigan's antebellum period and anti-slavery heritage, the book proceeds through Michigan's rapid response to President Lincoln's call to arms, its participation in each of the War's greatest battles, portrayal of its most interesting personalities, and the concluding triumph as Custer corners Lee at Appomattox and the 4th Michigan Cavalry apprehends the fleeing Jeff Davis. Based on thorough and up-to-date research, the result is surprising in its breadth, sometimes awe-inspiring, and always a revelation given how contributions by the Great Lake State in the Civil War are too often overlooked, even by its own citizens.

With firsthand accounts, letters and diary entries from the Carter House Archives, local historian James R. Knight paints a vivid picture of the gruesome Battle of Franklin.

In late November 1864, the last Southern army east of the Mississippi that was still free to maneuver started out from northern Alabama on the Confederacy's last offensive. John Bell Hood and his Army of Tennessee had dreams of capturing Nashville and marching on to the Ohio River, but a small Union force under Hood's old West Point roommate stood between him and the state capital. In a desperate attempt to smash John Schofield's line at Franklin, Hood threw most of his men against the Union works, centered on the house of a family named Carter, and lost 30 percent of his attacking force in one afternoon, crippling his army and setting it up for a knockout blow at Nashville two weeks later.

The Battle of Pickett's Mill documents the history this ""Dead-Line"" battle through firsthand accounts and sources from the Civil War era.

On May 27, 1864, Union forces under the command of William Tecumseh Sherman attacked Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston and his men at Pickett's Mill in Paulding County, Georgia. Following his defeat at New Hope Church, Sherman ordered Major General Oliver Howard to attack Johnston's flank, which Sherman believed to be exposed. But the Confederate soldiers were ready, and Sherman's supporting troops never arrived. What ensued was a battle that cost 2,100 lives and a defeat that Sherman left completely out of his memoirs. Author Brad Butkovich brings to life through personal letters, newspaper accounts and unit histories the battle that Union soldier and author Ambrose Bierce called ""the Dead-Line.""

St. Louis was at the center of several key Civil War events from the Dred Scott decision through the Mississippi Campaign that cut the Confederate States in two. Visit the site from which enslaved people tried to cross the Mississippi River to the free state of Illinois. Discover how hundreds of lawsuits by enslaved people set the stage for the Dred Scott decision that lit the fuse to the Civil War. See the military base that produced over 200 Civil War generals and the arsenal that secessionists and unionists fought to control. Author Peter Downs goes behind the monuments and historic sites to explore the people, relationships and events that influenced the course of civil war in St. Louis and the nation.

The Battle of Brandy Station was the largest cavalry battle ever fought on North American soil. A must-read for Civil War and Virginia history enthusiasts.

Just before dawn on June 9, 1863, Union soldiers materialized from a thick fog near the banks of Virginia's Rappahannock River to ambush sleeping Confederates. The ensuing struggle, which lasted throughout the day and included some 20,500 soldiers, was to become known as the Battle of Brandy Station. By the end, Union casualties were 907 (69 killed, 352 wounded, and 486 missing, primarily captured) and Confederate losses totaled 523. Meticulously captured by historian, preservationist, and author Eric J. Wittenberg, these events marked a major turning point in the Civil War: the waning era of Confederate cavalry dominance in the East gave way to a confident and powerful Union mounted arm.

This fascinating volume features a GPS guided tour of the battlefield with illustrations and maps by master cartographer Steven Stanley.

The South's high command traveled dramatically divergent paths after the dissolution of the Confederacy.

Their professional reputations were often rewritten accordingly, as the rise of the Lost Cause ideology codified the deification of Lee and the vilification of James Longstreet. The irascible Jubal A. Early, Robert E. Lee's "bad old man," went to Canada after the war and remained an unreconstructed Rebel until his death. Lee became president of Washington College and urged reconciliation with the North. Braxton Bragg never found solid economic footing and remained mournful of slavery's demise until his own, when a heart attack took him in Galveston. Allie Povall shares the stories of nineteen of these former generals, touching briefly on their antebellum and wartime experiences before richly detailing their attempts to salvage livelihoods from the wreckage of America's defining cataclysm.